What's happening?

Donald Trump has proposed eliminating all funding for the Legal Services Corporation, the primary source of civil legal aid for poor Americans.

This would be a radical break from the decades-long bipartisan support the LSC has had since its founding in 1974.

The American Bar Association is outraged and is calling on Congress to block this cut before it harms the 1.9 million people helped by the LSC lawyers annually.

Why Should We Care?

86% of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans in the past year received inadequate or no legal help. Despite having one of the highest quality civil legal systems in the world, when it comes to the accessibility of civil justice, the United States ranked 20th of 23 high-income nations. Americans spend more annually on Halloween costumes for their pets ($350 million) than on basic field grants from the LSC ($335 million). By contrast, the United Kingdom sets its per capita spending on civil legal aid over ten times higher than the United States does.

In 2014, the late Justice Antonin Scalia echoed Rhode: “[T]he mission of LSC is to provide equal access to the system of justice in our nation and to provide high-quality legal assistance to those who would otherwise be unable to afford legal counsel. . . Can there be justice if it is not equal, can there be a just society when some do not have justice. . . . [I]n today’s law-ridden society, denial of access to professional legal assistance is denial of equal justice.” Judge Learned Hand shared a similar thought decades before Justice Scalia: “If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.” President Trump is trying to ration justice even more than we already do.

How Can We Fight Back?

First, call or email your Representative and Senators:

On smaller, specific issues, like LSC funding, constituent feedback has a serious effect. To call or email your Representative, type in your zip here to find contact information. To call or email your Senator, use this list to find contact information. Or, to call either, dial the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. For tips on what to say, Voices for Civil Justice has a useful guide and the ABA has talking points. (If you have left your home district but your parents or friends still live there, encourage them to call by sharing — in person, or on social media — the importance of saving the LSC.)

Second, attend town hall meetings:

Town hall meetings are a great way to get your representatives on the record about defending civil legal aid. Plus, seeing constituents’ passion in person has a greater effect than having aides read them written comments. If a town hall is happening in your district — find out at The Town Hall Project — then show up and let your representative know that you value civil legal aid. Again, if you are looking for advice on what to say, Voices for Civil Justice has a useful guide and the ABA has talking points.

Third, write op-eds and letters to the editor:

Newspapers are eager to publish insightful op-eds and letters to the editor on specific issues in which you have a relative expertise. And Congresspersons receive copies of all the op-eds and letters written in their district’s newspapers. Op-eds and LTTEs therefore have a high effort-to-impact ratio in advocacy campaigns. If you are looking for some inspiration, check out Voices for Civil Justice’s list of op-eds and LTTEs on protecting civil legal aid.

Law Schools for Legal Aid

Below we will list law students, organized by school, who have fought back for the Legal Services Corporation. If you have fought back, tell us about it in the form on the right (or email pedavis@jd18.law.harvard.edu) and we will list you below:

News + Updates

On Thursday, Harvard Law hosted a “Save the LSC” info and action session. 30 calls and emails were made to encourage Congresspeople to block the $85 million in cuts from the LSC budget. Photos below:

September 18, 2017 – Update from Congress

An update from Congress :

The House passed an Appropriations bill which cut $85 million from LSC’s budget – from $385 to $300 million.

The good news is that during the debate on the bill on the House floor, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a bipartisan amendment to increase LSC’s funding by $10 million. This may be the first time a bipartisan amendment to increase LSC funding has ever been offered on the House floor. Four Members of Congress spoke in support of the amendment on the House floor: Rep. Fitzpatrick (R-PA); Rep. Cohen (D-TN); Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN); and Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), the Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. The Chairman of the CJS subcommittee, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), opposed the amendment but expressed support for LSC and his desire to work to increase the allocation in conference with the Senate. The amendment was withdrawn before a final vote was taken. You can see the video of the discussion on the House Floor here: https://vimeo.com/233681062.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $385 million for LSC in FY 2018; the Senate has not scheduled consideration of the bill.

In the meantime, the Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that maintains the FY2017 budget (which is really the FY2016 budget since Congress simply passed a CR for 2017) until December 8.

Message from the campaign: “The message we want to communicate to both House and Senate members is that the Senate appropriation – $385 million – must be the final budget figure. This is particularly vital after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Legal aid is a vital component of disaster assistance. In addition, if anyone is calling Rep. Fitzpatrick, Cohen, Brooks, Serrano or Culberson, it would be great to thank them for their support for LSC.”

July 13, 2017 – Act on Justice site and twitter

July 1, 2017 – Update from the House

A House subcommittee has recommended a $300 million appropriation to the LSC, which would be a 24% cut in funding for basic field grants and a 22% cut overall. This level of funding would result in 417,455 fewer people served across the county, at at time when legal aid programs already turn away half of the people who seek service because of a lack of resources. The current (FY17) appropriation for LSC of $385 million is less than half of what would be appropriated if LSC’s 1976 funding kept pace with inflation. In 1976, 12% of the population qualified for LSC’s services; today 20% of the population qualifies. At the same time that the Committee drastically cut funding for LSC, they substantially increased funding for NASA ($218 million more than in FY2017; NASA’s total budget would be $19.872 billion), and they increased funding for the FBI, DEA, ATF, and the National Security Division of DOJ, among others.